Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine, sometimes called TCM, or just Chinese Medicine,  is a complete medical system that has diagnosed, treated, and prevented illness for over 2300 years. Imagine, for a moment, that  the medicine of Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, circa 600 B.C.E., had undergone continuous evolution from the time of Socrates, through the Roman empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, right up through the Scientific and Computer ages. Imagine that during this time a highly educated, literate upper class of physicians had compiled a massive written system in which thousands of case studies and both theoretical and practical texts served as the means for communicating with each other on the subtleties of preserving life and preventing disease and untimely death. Imagine a huge population to observe and learn from, in which literacy is prized, medicine is state sponsored,  and the course of disease studied, empirically, in the most sophisticated literate pre-modern system. Now you have imagined traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chinese medicine is a complete system of treating and promoting health through the use of medicines (herb, mineral, and animal products), Acupuncture, Spinal and Joint Manipulation,  Massage, Dietary and Nutritional Therapies, Meditation, Tai Qi, and Counseling.

Chinese Medicine is based on the philosophical constructs of ancient Chinese philosphy, namely Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. While modern bio-medicine views disease as an enemy to be conquered and defeated, rooted out with surgery, or poisoned with drug therapies, Chinese medicine is based on therapies that strengthen the body’s ability to fight disease on its own. It is based on the observation that unblocking the human life-force or Qi in Chinese language, will enable the body to heal itself.

What is Qi? Qi is the life-force that moves through and animates the body and mind. It is, for example, what enables the lungs to breathe and the viscera to digest. It is, in a sense, identical to the powerful electromagnetic particles, waves, and forces that constitute and motivate all of creation according to modern physics. In terms of the human body and Chinese medicine, Qi is what propels life, it is the force behind breathing, digesting, excreting, and sleeping. It is what gets us up in the morning and what enables us to sleep at night. It is the force within the constant movement of emotions; it is what keeps us warm and upright.